Sound recording and reproducing apparatus



Sept. 29, 1942. B. A. PROCTOR SOUND RECORDING AND REPRODUQING APPARATUSFiled June- 25, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. Barron A. Procror BY ATTORNE Y5 p 1942- B. A. PROCTOR SOUND RECORDING AND REPRODUCINGAPPARATUS Filed June 25, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Bdrm/7 A.Procfor %p-w W A TTORNE Y5 Sept. 29, 1942. B. A. PROCTOR SOUND RECORDINGAND REPRODUCING APPARATUS Filed June 25, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.BarfonAPmcfor BY ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 29, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE SOUND RECORDING AND REPRODUCING APPARATUS Application June 25,1941, Serial No. 399,605

19 Claims.

This invention relates to sound recording and reproducing apparatus andis particularly directed to an improved arrangement for accuratelydetermining the position of a disk record with reference to therecording or reproducing member which engages the record.

In certain uses of such apparatus, and particularly in dictatingmachines where dictation is inscribed on the record, to be transcribedlater by a typist, it is important to be able to position apredetermined part of the sound track or of the record surface inregister with the recording or reproducing member, either to resumerecording, to reproduce a desired portion of the record, to determinethe proportion of the total length of the sound track that has beeninscribed or reproduced, or for other reasons.

A purpose of the invention is to provide a novel arrangement fordetermining the position of the record in relation to the recording orreproduc- H ing member; and a specific object is to accomplish thispurpose in apparatus in which the point of contact between said memberand the record is not readily visible. A further specific object is toobtain the same result by novel means in apparatus in which the recordhas a translatory motion during operation.

The invention is particularly applicable to apparatus which utilizestranslucent records, such as the apparatus disclosed in the applicationof Barton A. Proctor, Serial No. 281,811, filed June 29, 1939. Aspecific feature of the invention is the utilization of the translucentor transparent character of such records to locate position-indicatingmeans below the record which will be visible through the record, eitherdirectly or by means of its shadow. An ancillary feature is the use of ascale carried by translucent material through which the indicator willalso be visible. In the preferred form both features are employed, theindicator being visible through both the record and the translucentscale panel.

The invention advantageously includes the provision of suitable lightingmeans arranged to illuminate the indicator either to render it visible,to improve its visibility and to cast an appropriate shadow which isvisible on the scale. The specific purpose is to provide such a sourceof light which travels with the indicator and which may readily bearranged to cast a suitable position-indicating shadow on the lower faceof the record in register with the scale.

A further feature of the invention is the provision of a scalearrangement overlying the rec- 0rd and extending diagonally relative tothe di- 55 rection of its translatory motion, preferably covering theentire range of translatory movement as well as the entire distancebetween the innermost and outermost limits of the sound track. With thisarrangement the scale construction may be provided with scale markingsindicating either the extent of translatory movement, the radialposition of a predetermined point on the record, or both. A specificfeature is the provision of a scale construction on which both radialand translatory positions are indicated, this arrangement beingparticularly advantageous for accurately locating a given point on therecord by the use of the two types of indication.

Further objects and advantages will appear from the followingdescription considered in connection with the accompanying drawings inwhich Fig. 1 is a perspective side view of the relevant portions of anapparatus embodying the invention:

Fig. 2 is a partly diagrammatic plan view of a portion of said apparatuswith the record and scale shown in a fiat plane, and indicating thelimits of translatory movement of the record; and

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section through said apparatus withparts omitted.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention is applied to apparatusdisclosed in the above mentioned Proctor application Serial No. 281.811,although its utility is not limited to apparatus of that type. Referenceis made to the disclosure of said application for the details ofconstruction and arrangement of such apparatus, and the parts showntherein will be referred to herein only as far as may be necessary tounderstand the present invention.

In general, such apparatus comprises a frame I0 carrying a turtlebacksupport II for the disk record l2, which is tightly fitted over aspindle l3 mounted on carriage I4. The record I2 is made of thintranslucent material and is rotated by an upper feed wheel l6 bearingagainst the upper face of the record and registering with a rotativelymounted platen [5 bearing against the lowerface of the record. The upperfeed wheel [6 is driven through shaft 2! provided with a drive roller l6bearing against hub 22 of pulley I3 driven through belt [9 by motor 20.Shaft 2| is mounted in a suitable support which is vertically movable toshift feed wheel l6 into and out of engagement with record [2, therebystarting and stopping the drive of said record.

The spindle I3 is rotated by the record I2 and is provided with meansfor moving carriage M to impart the necessary translatory motion to therecord. Said means includes spiral gear on spindle l3 meshing withspiral gear 26 on feed screw 21 engaged by half nut 28 on the outer endof arm 29 fast on rock shaft 36. The half nut 28 is normally heldin-engagement with feed screw 21 by spring 32, but may be raised toinoperative position through rotation of control rod 33 by finger piece34, rod 33 being connected through bevel gears 35 to cam 36 on cam shaft39 engaging arm 3l on shaft 30. Control rod 33 also regulates thevertical movement of" the, upper feed wheel 16 through cam; 56 on shaft39 positioned to engage tailpiece 5! fixed to carriage 58 pivoted onshaft 59 and carrying shaft 2| on which the upper feed wheel I 5 and itsdrive roller I 6 are mounted. The recording stylus 3! and reproducingstylus 38' may be shifted into and out of operative position by suitablemeans, such as that disclosed in the above mentioned application, SerialNo. 281,811, though such means forms no part of the invention, which isequally applicable whether the Styluses are operated mechanically ormanually In the operation of this apparatus a record I2 is forced downon spindle l 3 while styli 31 and 38 and upper fee-d wheel 16- are inuppermost inoperative positions, and half nut 28 is out of engagementwith feed screw 21. Carriage I4 is then moved to bring the record intothe desired position, such as the innermost limiting position shown infull lines in Fig. 2 appropriate for the commencement of recording orreproducing; and appropriate manipulation of finger piece 34 will thenshift half nut 28 into engagement with feed screw 21 and move the feedwheel l6 into engagement with the record l2, thereby rotating the recordand imparting the necessary translat'ory movement to carriage l4.Operation of finger piece 34 likewise shifts either the recorder 31 withits stylus 31 or the reproducer 38' with its stylus 38 into engagementwith the record l2, and the desired recording or reproduction proceeds,the record being supported by a rotatable platen 38a under the activestylus. The details of manipulation and operation of the various partsare more fully set forth in the above mentioned application and are,therefore, omitted. The arrangement is such that the apparatus may bereadily set for recording or transcribing at any point on the record 12,and the record may be promptly shifted manually to any desired positionby raising the half nut 28 and the upper feed wheel [6.

A suitable indicator is mounted for movement with carriage l4 andadvantageously extends beneath the record l2 into position forobservation from the exterior of the apparatus. In the preferred formthe indicating portion of the indicator is located directly beneath therecord,- and such indicating portion or its shadow is visible throughthe record. For this purpose a suitable opening through the recordsupportis provided, which opening is advantageously arranged beneath therecord so that the indicator may be observed through the record when thelatter is in operative position. Suitable indicator illuminating meansis also provided so that the indicator or its shadow may be more readilyobserved, the illuminating means being advantageously mounted on and"traveling with the carriage. I

In the illustrated embodiment side opening 40 is provided in theturtleback support ll, overlying the path of travel of an indicator 4|in the form of a wire or the like mounted at one end on carriage l4 andadvantageously extending closely adjacent the inner face of support IIin a plane at right angles to the direction of movement of carriage M inposition for ready visibility through opening w. A suitable electriclighttZ is mounted in a socket in support 43 on carriage l4 and isprovided with appropriate electrical connections, such as flexible leads(not shown). Light 42 advantageously consists of an elongated bulbarranged parallel to and in the same vertical plane as indicator 4!,arranged to cast a sharp shadow of the indicator on record l2.

.. V A suitable scale is arranged above side opening 40 in position forindicating the location of indicator M. In the illustratedconstruction'the scale is associated with a window 65 in the housing 46which overlies the record at one side of the machine and has a lowersurface curved to follow the contour of the record and of the uppersurface of the support H on which the record rests. The scale may beadvantageously carried by flexible" translucent or transparent material,such as regenerated cellulose, cellulose acetate, synthetic resins andthe like, mounted on housing 46. In the form illustrated a scale strip41 of such material is arranged with its margin eX- tending between theedges of the outer and inner walls of housing 46 surrounding window #5.Specifically, the margin of scale strip '41 rests upon the flat innerface of the inner Wall '48 of the housing; and the outer wall 49, whichis spaced from wall 88, is provided with an inturned margin 50 formingthe side of the window 45' and extending close to the upper surface ofscale strip 41. Strip 41 may be secured to the inner wall 48 as byrivets, not shown, passing through holes 41, Fig. 2, in said strip andcorresponding holes in the wall G8. The strip 4! carries a suitablescale applied or inscribed thereon and indicated' generally at 51,arranged so that indicator 41 or its shadow 54 is Visible on said scalesubstantially throughout the entire path of travel of said indicator.

While the type of indicator arrangement which has been described may beemployed for indicating simply the position of the carriage I8, and forthis purpose need only extend in a direction parallel in the path oftravel of the carriage, it is a purpose of the invention to determine atthe same time the radial position of a selected point or points on therecord; and for this purpose the required scale must extendtransversely'to the direction of travel or the carriage and across thepath of the entire portion of the record available for recording. Thesetwo types of scale have v been combined by arranging the scale strip 41,

the registering side opening 40 and window 45 in a diagonal direction,extending longitudinally relative to the translatory path of the recordbetween the limits" of travel of indicator 4|, and radially from thepath of the inner margin of the recording area to the path of the outermargin of said area. possible to inscribe on strip ll both verticalscale '52 indicating translato'ry movement and horizontal scale 53indicating radial positions on the record.

The vertical scale 52 indicating carriage position may be coordinatedwith the horizontal scale 53 indicating radial distance to facilitateimproved accuracy in locating the record I2 so that a predeterminedpoint will be in register with a stylus. For this purpose each line ofthe This arrangement makes it.

horizontal scale 53 which will register with a certain turn of the soundtrack will be arranged as a continuation of a line of the vertical scale53 which will register with indicator 40 or its shadow 54 (Fig. 1) whenthe stylus 31 or 38 in operative position engages the same turn of thesound track, or with a turn spaced therefrom by a predetermined radialdistance.

The operation and use of the disclosed arrangement will be described inconnection with the operation of the apparatus as a dictating machine.In such operation the record [2 may carry a number of separate dictationitems such as a plurality of letters. The dictation may be continuous,the points of division between the various items being capable ofindication, either by a notation of the location of the shadow 54 on thevertical scale 52, by a visible mark on the surface of the record, or bya short uninscribed gap 55 (Fig. 3) between items. With this arrangementthe record may be accurately located with the desired point in positionfor recording or reproducing by positioning the carriage l4 so that theshadow 54 is in register with the proper point on the vertical scale.Such step is particularly advantageous with apparatus of the typeindicated in which the point of engagement between the stylus and therecord is not readily visible and, therefore, the stylus cannot beconveniently located at the desired point on the record by directobservation.

The combination of vertical and horizontal scales is, moreover, adaptedto assist in locating accurately beneath a stylus the desired portion ofthe record indicated by a visible mark on the record, such as the gap 55or the end of the inscribed portion, even when no notation of thecorresponding position of shadow 54 on scale 52 has been made. For thepurpose, if the guiding mark, line, point or groove on the record is nota complete circle, it is first positioned on a line through spindle l3at right angles to the direction of travel and on the same side as scale5|. The carriage I4 is then shifted until such mark or the likeregisters with a line of the horizontal scale 53. Such registration,however, is not sufficiently accurate to position the carriage properly,since the guiding mark, line or groove remains in register with a lineof the horizontal scale 53 even though the record is moved back andforth in translatory direction for a suitable distance.

However, if the carriage is then shifted until the shadow 54 overliesthe line on the vertical scale 52 which corresponds to the line on scale53 registering with the determining mark on the record, it will be foundthat the record will be accurately positioned even though the stylus 31or 38 is invisible. It will, of course, be understood that where thedetermining mark on the record falls between lines on the horizontalscale 53, the shadow 54 may be located at the same proportional distancebetween corresponding lines of vertical scale 52.

While the lines on scale 51, as already indicated, may be spaced todenote radial distances, and for this purpose would be evenly spaced, itis ordinarily preferable to indicate the proportional part of the totallength of the sound track which is located at either side of the stylus,when the record is driven at an increasing rate of rotation as thestylus approaches the center of the record. Since the outer turns of thesound track are very much longer than the inner turns, a scale of thelatter type will be provided with lines progressively closer toward oneend. An arrangement of this type has been found to be entirely practicalwith the construction illustrated.

There are various conditions under which the described construction willbe useful, as will be apparent to those familiar with this art. Forinstance, when a record has been partially used and removed, it may bereadily and rapidly located in the machine with the recording stylus 31positioned accurately adjacent the end of the previous sound track. Italso permits any desired spacing between successive portions of'thesound track even though the distance of the stylus 31 from the precedingpart of the track cannot be directly observed.

Certain constructions have been developed for placing marks on thesurface of the record to indicate a particular portion of the soundtrack. In some constructions of this type, such as that disclosed in theapplication of Barton A. Proctor, Serial No. 315,169, filed January 23,1940, the mark may be located at a predetermined radial distance fromthe portion of the sound track intended to be indicated. The scalearrangement herein describedis adapted for use with records marked inthis manner, either by making a fixed allowance on the horizontal scale53 corresponding to the radial distance between the mark and the portionof the sound, track indicated thereby, or by providing a scale in whichthe lines of the horizontal scale 53 are offset to a correspondingextent. The latter arrangement would be such that when the mark on therecord is in register with a selected line of horizontal scale 53, saidline will connect with an appropriate line of vertical scale 52, suchthat when the shadow 54 is brought into register with the lattervertical line, the part of the sound track lying beneath the stylus 31or 38 will not be the turn which passes through the indicating mark onthe record, but the turn that is intended to be designated by such mark.

I have described what I believe to be the best embodiments of myinvention. I do not wish, however, to be confined to the embodimentsshown, but what I desire to cover by Letters Patent is set forth in theappended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for rotating disc records which comprises means forimparting both rotary and translatory movement to a record, and meansfor indicating the relative translatory position of the record,including an indicator moved in conformity with the translatory movementof the record and a scale in register with the indicator, the indicatorand scale being arranged with the record between them when in operativeposition.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 including means for illuminatingthe indicator.

3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, including illuminating meansarranged behind the indicator and positioned to throw a shadow of theindicator on a translucent record.

4. Apparatus for rotating disc records which comprises means forimparting both rotary and translatory movement to a record, including acarriage engaging and traveling with the record, and means forindicating the relative translatory position of the record, including anindicator connected to the carriage and extending therefrom below therecord, and a scale in register with the indicator and located above therecord.

5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4 in which the record when inoperative position is located between the indicating portion of theindicator and the scale.

6. Apparatus for rotating disc records which comprises means forimparting both rotary and translatory movement to a record, including ahousing, a carriage traveling beneath the housing provided with meansextending through the housing for engaging a record located above thehousing, and means'for indicating the relative translatory position ofthe record, including an indicator connected to the carriage andextending therefrom beneath the record, and a scale in register with theindicator and located above the record and housing.

7. Apparatus as set forth in claim 6, in which the housing is providedwith an opening in regis- .ter with the scale through which theindicator is visible.

8. Apparatus for rotating disc records which comprises means forimparting both rotary and translatory movement to a record, and meansfor indicating the relative translatory position of the record,including a scale overlying the record throughout its translatorymovement and an indicator in register with the scale and moved with therecord in the direction of translatory-movement.

9. Apparatus as set forth in claim 8 including a housing overlying therecord, and in which the scale is carried by said housing.

10. Apparatus as set forth in claim 8, in which the scale is inscribedon a sheet of translucent material extending across an aperture in thehousing.

11. Apparatus as set forth in claim 8, in which the scale is inscribedon translucent material extending across an aperture in the housing, andmeans is provided for illuminating the indicator.

12. Apparatus for rotating disc records which comprises means forimparting both rotary and translatory movement to a record, including aninner housing, a carriage traveling beneath the inner housing, providedwith record engaging means extending through the inner housing, and anouter housing, the record being supported between the inner and outerhousings; and means for indicating the relative translatory position ofthe record, including an indicator connected to the carriage andextending therefrom beneath the inner housing and record, and a scale inregister with the indicator and carried by the outer housing.

13. Apparatus for rotating disc records which comprises means forimparting both rotary and translatory movement to a record, and meansfor indicating the relative translatory position of the record,including an indicator moving in a translatory direction with therecord, and a scale extending diagonally to the direction of translatorymovement substantially throughout the path of travel of the indicatorand in register with the recording area of the record.

14. Apparatus for rotating disc records provided withlocation-identifying markings in the recording area of a record whichcomprises means for imparting both rotary and translatory movement tothe record, scale means for indicating the relative translatory positionof the record, and scale means for indicating the relative radialposition of said markings.

15. Apparatus as set forth in claim 14, in which each scale meansincludes a scale arranged diagonally to the direction o'f'translatorymovement and extending radially across and in register with the path ofthe recording area of the record.

16. Apparatus as set forth in claim 14, in which each scale meansincludes a scale arranged diagonally to the direction of translatorymovement and extending radially across and in register with the path ofthe recording area of the record, the markings of one scale beingassociated with corresponding markings of the other scale, thearrangement being such that the combined scales indicate translatorypositions each having a fixed predetermined relationship radial point onthe record.

17. Apparatus for rotating disc records which comprises a stylusoperatively engaging a record at a point not readily visible; means forimparting both rotary and translatory movement to the record; and meansfor positioning the record with a predetermined point on the record inregister with the stylus, comprising means including a translatory scalefor indicating the relative translatory position of the record, andmeans including a radial scale for indicating the relative radialposition of an indicated point on the record, the markings on the radialscale being each associated with a marking on the translatory scaleindicating the translatory position of the record at which thepredetermined point on the record is in register with the stylus whenthe indicated point on the record is in register with said marking onthe radial scale.

18. Apparatus for rotating disc records which comprises an innerhousing, a carriage traveling beneath the housing and provided withmeans extending through the housing for engaging a record, an outerhousing, the record being located between the housings in operativeposition, a translatory scale carried by the outer housing and marked toindicate the relative translatory position of the record, a radial scalecarried by the outer housing and marked to indicate the relative radialposition of indicated points on the record, said scales being arrangeddiagonally across the path of the recording area of the record with themarkings of the radial scale each associated with a marking of thetranslatory scale to correlate a predetermined translatory position ofthe record with each radial position of an indicated point on therecord, an indicator connected to the carriage extending beneath theinner housing and in register with said translatory scale, and means forilluminating the indicating portion of the indicator.

19. Apparatus for rotating disc records which comprises mechanism forimparting both rotary and translatory movement to a record, and meansfor indicating the relative translatory position of points on the recordincluding a scale unit in register with the recording area of the recordthroughout its translatory movement, said unit including a scalearranged to indicate the radial position of points on the record visiblealong said scale, an indicator movable along, the scale unit, and meansconnecting the indicator and said mechanism for shifting the indicatoralong the scale unit in accordance with the translatory movement of therecord, arranged to indicate the translatory position of said record.

BARTON A. PROCTOR,

to a corresponding

